Snowflake Eel

[shse666]

Eels are predators. They eat meat and that means your shrimp, gobies, sleeping wrasse fish, etc.
They are also escape artists and able to slither through small gaps or worm their way into your overflow and sump.

Snowflakes are very nearly blind and will bite the hand that feeds them. One of the Pred experts over at a fish lair can show you scars.
I don't know about you but I like being able to put my hands anywhere in the reef as long as I know where the rabbit fish is hiding.

There are real risks adding an eel to any reef. A golden dwarf may not be able to inflict as much damage with a bite but it will
still escape and eat critters.

 

[Jbr2389]

I have a Garden Eel in my 30 lps reef, they aren't actually eels though I believe. It's too small to bother anything and they burrow into the sand with their head and part of the body sticking out of the sand. I believe they just need small foods at least mine had a hard time with anything besides cyclops and SA pellets. Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Garden Eel

I wouldn't recommend an Engineer Goby unless you don't mind fixing his messes! I had mine since a baby so I don't have the heart to get rid of him but he makes rocks fall and shift once in awhile and covers my Zoa frags that are on the sand so much.

 

[SantaMonica]

I want a garden eel again. Do you have deep sand?

 

[melev]

Eels are predators. They eat meat and that means your shrimp, gobies, sleeping wrasse fish, etc.
They are also escape artists and able to slither through small gaps or worm their way into your overflow and sump.

I don't know about you but I like being able to put my hands anywhere in the reef as long as I know where the rabbit fish is hiding.

There are real risks adding an eel to any reef. A golden dwarf may not be able to inflict as much damage with a bite but it will
still escape and eat critters.

I agree about the escape artists. I've added an additional barrier to keep them in the water. And I too like to keep my hands safe when I have to work in the tank.

 

[Jbr2389]

I want a garden eel again. Do you have deep sand?

Yup, it's like 4-5 inches deep. I love seeing their heads pop out! I've had my green one for about 8 months and orange/white banded one for about a month.

 

[lefkonj]

Eels are a very interesting addition to a tank. There are two types of eels, fang or pebble toothed. Eels with fang teeth are more aggressive and will eat just about anything, like the Jewel, Green, the like. I don't think these are good choices for a reef. Pebble toothed morays, like the snow flake or golden dwarf, zebra are great members for a reef tank. Any eel would easy disturb corals, glued down or not. My Mexican Pale Nose, knocks things over all the time, a zebra would be much worse considering how large they get.

The challenge with a pebble tooth is the fact that they will eat your clean up crew. Mine likes to pull crabs out of their shells, as well as some of the larger snails. If he is well fed he is fine but if you skip a day or two between feedings expect the clean up crew to be thinned out a little bit. He could easily eat my mystery wrasse or male clownfish but doesn't at all, never goes after a single fish.

 

[Waters]

I decided against the moray out of fear of damage to my coral. Unfortunately all three of my "wants" (triggers, lionfish, and eels) will not work in my 60 reef tank :-(

 

[lefkonj]

Triggers are not bad as long as you add them last. Niger, Blue Throat, Sargassum all work well in a reef tank. They will eat certain crustaceans but for the most part are fine.

 

[tyler1503]

It absolutely drives me crazy when my fish disturb or pick at my coral...if they continue I normally remove them. With that being said, I am considering a small Snowflake Eel. I have read that they will constantly knock over coral that isn't glued down (which most of mine are not). Would it be a mistake for me to pick one up or do they eventually settle down and "behave" ?

There's a bit of information in this thread that sounds like it being posted from someone who heard it from someone who read it elsewhere. It doesn't sound like advice from someone with experience. I won't say who or what as I don't wana embarrass anyone, but not all of the information in this thread is good information. Research will help you decide what is best. That being said, there is some quality advice there too. All the following information is from first hand experience but your milage may vary
A snowflake will be fine in a reef but any small gap in the lid and she'll find it. They're more inclined to find holes in corners/along walls of tanks as they can "slither" up the walls like a snake. A strong and healthy snowflake can propel her entire body vertically out of the water up a smooth surface before falling back into the water.
They are known to knock down corals, but most are agile enough to get around without doing much damage. They are clumsy swimmers so realistically it's a chance, but I've owned several individuals from several different species of eels and the only one who would knock corals down was a very large zebra.
In my experience snowflakes generally don't eat fish unless they've been fed live foods in the past. You can train them to eat prepared foods very easily at a young age. I've found if something is up to the size of from the very front of the head to the back of the gill opening, it's likely to be eaten. Anything up to twice that size is likely to be chased and possibly bitten. Anything bigger is likely to be safe (unless your a shrimp or crab or the like. If you just so happen to be a shrimp or crab or something similar, be prepared to become dinner at almost any size).
They usually settle down after a few weeks to a month or two after being introduced. Like a kitten or a puppy they will investigate every opening and crack in the rockwork until they find food and feel safe at home. Most will find two or three places they like to hide with one of them being where they hide most. Once settled you may rarely see the eel until feeding time.
I hope you got some useful information out of that. And sorry the reply was so long, once I get writing about eels it's hard to stop lol.

 

[melev]

Tyler, if I'm off in any of my comments, please be sure to correct me.

When I bought my 280g back in 2004, it came with a large Golden Dwarf. I didn't trust it and ended up setting up a 29g in my son's room for him to enjoy it. He was very pretty, and didn't fight with the Maroon Clownfish pair, but one day my son was screaming for me to come to his room. The eel had jumped out of the tank via the opening in the back of the canopy. It went under the dresser the tank was on, and when I was able to retrieve it it was covered in dog hair like a wookie snake. That wasn't a spot where you could vacuum. I tried to pull off the hair, and ended up carrying it to the sink and did my best to rinse and peel away all the hair with what felt like 'normal' water temperature from the tap, avoiding getting the head area wet with freshwater. I put it back in the tank but within a day or two it had died. It was saddening, but I didn't know what else to do.

This new pair of eels I got at MACNA are 10" or less, and I feed them every night some krill. They come swimming out for food, but haven't crested the surface. I'd considered making a solid top for the walls (pictured above) but having it open allows me to feed more easily. Yes, they could launch themselves out currently, but I've not observed activity like that at all. The first night, one of the two keep jumping out and I had to kind of show it where to live, prodding it into the rockwork while the other one immediately took to the reef structure.

 

[ashr]

I am building a new 36x30x20 tank right now and want to go with SPS, mixed fish etc. I am thinking about getting a GME and building a hose under the sand for a home etc. Keeping a close eye on this thread

 

[erictorres0311]

I like the pair any chance anyone tried keeping a zebra and a gme together ?

 

[Waters]

Triggers are not bad as long as you add them last. Niger, Blue Throat, Sargassum all work well in a reef tank. They will eat certain crustaceans but for the most part are fine.

Unfortunately that isn't always the case lol.....I had to remove my small Niger trigger due to aggressiveness to the other fish....although he did leave my CUC alone.

 

[Waters]

There's a bit of information in this thread that sounds like it being posted from someone who heard it from someone who read it elsewhere. It doesn't sound like advice from someone with experience. I won't say who or what as I don't wana embarrass anyone, but not all of the information in this thread is good information. Research will help you decide what is best. That being said, there is some quality advice there too. All the following information is from first hand experience but your milage may vary
A snowflake will be fine in a reef but any small gap in the lid and she'll find it. They're more inclined to find holes in corners/along walls of tanks as they can "slither" up the walls like a snake. A strong and healthy snowflake can propel her entire body vertically out of the water up a smooth surface before falling back into the water.
They are known to knock down corals, but most are agile enough to get around without doing much damage. They are clumsy swimmers so realistically it's a chance, but I've owned several individuals from several different species of eels and the only one who would knock corals down was a very large zebra.
In my experience snowflakes generally don't eat fish unless they've been fed live foods in the past. You can train them to eat prepared foods very easily at a young age. I've found if something is up to the size of from the very front of the head to the back of the gill opening, it's likely to be eaten. Anything up to twice that size is likely to be chased and possibly bitten. Anything bigger is likely to be safe (unless your a shrimp or crab or the like. If you just so happen to be a shrimp or crab or something similar, be prepared to become dinner at almost any size).
They usually settle down after a few weeks to a month or two after being introduced. Like a kitten or a puppy they will investigate every opening and crack in the rockwork until they find food and feel safe at home. Most will find two or three places they like to hide with one of them being where they hide most. Once settled you may rarely see the eel until feeding time.
I hope you got some useful information out of that. And sorry the reply was so long, once I get writing about eels it's hard to stop lol.

Thanks for the information Tyler.....your experience has put me "back on the fence". I have added and had to remove roughly 4 fish so far due to either fish aggression or coral picking so I am trying to avoid that again. I have a clear screen mesh top so I am not worried about him getting out....just don't want any damage done to my coral.

 

[tyler1503]

I like the pair any chance anyone tried keeping a zebra and a gme together ?

GME, like the big green ones? If so, it won't end well. The green will kill pretty much anything in the tank and there's nothing realistic in the hobby that will live with one unfortunately. Unless you get two greens at a very young age (like the size of a pencil) and let them grow up together, even then, it may not end well.

Thanks for the information Tyler.....your experience has put me "back on the fence". I have added and had to remove roughly 4 fish so far due to either fish aggression or coral picking so I am trying to avoid that again. I have a clear screen mesh top so I am not worried about him getting out....just don't want any damage done to my coral.

Glad I could help or because your now on the fence, I inadvertently made this more difficult. Sorry. Lol.
You should be ok with a snowflake. Especially if you get a small one and don't change your aquascape around. He'll learn what's where and how to get about without bumping into anything. He may bump a coral or two, but he won't do too much damage. Also, keeping them well fed will not only benefit the corals (extra food in the water column) but it will almost guarantee you won't have a feeding frenzy on your hands which is when knocking corals over is most likely to happen.

 

[schlitz]

I had a snowflake with some coral and he left them alone. My bigger problems were him getting into the filter (like every 3-4 days) and keeping him fed. I eventually found a plastic mesh that I sewed onto the overlow using fishing line to keep the eel out. My damsels and lunar wrasse made it very difficult to feed my eel. I tried with prongs to target feed him but the wrasse was very effective at stealing the food before I could get the eel to take it. Eventually I found a headless eel. Not sure who the culprit was but my lionfish wouldn't look at me for a few days. I would love to get another eel but I don't know what I can do better to feed one.

 

[lefkonj]

Unfortunately that isn't always the case lol.....I had to remove my small Niger trigger due to aggressiveness to the other fish....although he did leave my CUC alone.

My Niger Trigger was a bully until one of my Tang's got bigger than he was, now he doesn't bother anything.

 

[Scorson]

My snowflake thinks he's a clown fish and hangs out in my frogspawn. I'd definitely consider gluing your corals. You can even do it under water, so it's not too difficult or expensive.